Card holder



March 12, 1929. o. A. YOUNGREN CARD HOLDER Filed May 2, 1928 I5 Sheets-Sheet w G 9 w mall swam H 01, oscarA oungren March 12, 1929.- o. A. YOUNGREN 1,705,349

CARD HOLDER Filed May a, 1928 5 Sheets-Sheet. 2

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CARD HOLDER 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed May 2, 1928 amnion OscarAYOuH VQn Patented Mar. 12, 1929.

UNITED STATES 1,705,349 PATENT OFFICE.

OSCAR ANDREW YOUNGREN, OI PASADENA, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR TO ROYAL PROD- UCTS, INC., A CORPORATION OF NEVADA.

CARD HOLDER.

Application med May -2,

My invention relates to card holders, indicators andcounters for use in playing cards, with particularattention to providinga useful device in playing auction bridge.

It is anobjectro'f the invention to provide a card holder in which the cards may be conveniently arranged and to provide in connection with the holder means for assistirg the player to keep :in mind certain data relating to the gameandcertain'facts of the game in orderthat he maybe kept'informed of the condition of the game at any point during the playing.

A further objectof the invention is to provide in connection with the cardholder a device movable to indicate the value of each suit of the cards.

Another object is to provide a cardholder of such form and construction as to be easily held in one hand in such a position as to enable the player to operate the indicating devices on the holder.

Further objects and advantages of the in vention will become apparent as the description proceeds.

Referring to the accompanying drawin s which are made a part hereof and on whic 1 similar reference characters indicate similar parts,

Figure 1 isa face view of the holder and indicator,

Figure 2, a reverse View,

Figure 3, a section on line 33 of Figure 1,

Figure 4, a section on line H of Figure 1,

Figure 5, a'face view of a modified form of holder and indicator,

Figure 6, a rear view of the same,

Figure 7, a face view of a holder and counter,

Figures 8, 9.and 10-are face views of modified forms of holders.

The device as shown in Figure 1 consists of a plurality of small plates having somewhat enlarged circular upper ends and narrowed lower ends. The edges are preferably curved outwardly from the lower end to provide edges which may conveniently be grasped in the palm of the hand, as shown at 20 and 21. To provide pockets for holding playing cards, I secure together at their edges and lower end four plates .22, 23, 24 and 5 and a double plate 26, upon which lattcr plate the indicating devices are placed.

I928. Serial N0. 274,650.

Upon each of the four plates 22, 23, 24 and 25 I preferably place some indicating mark, such as a diamond, a club, a heart and a spade as indicated at 27, 28, 29 and 30, to indicate the pocket for each suit. The plate 26, as stated, is a double plate, composed of the "upper disc 31 or face of the indicator, and a lower disc I provide the upper disc 31 with four elongated parallel slots 33, 34,35 and36. Beneath these slots 1 place slides 37, 38, 39 and 40. The slides are secured upon eyelets 41, 42, 43 and 44, by which they are longitudinally moved in the slots, but are secured against escaping from the slots. On the face of the disc 32, just beneath each of the slots are indicating numerals preferably running from one to thirteen representin the number of cards in each suit in-a deck 0 bridge cards. The slide may be moved along to position its upper end just below-one of the numbers to indicate the number of cards that have been played in that suit. Instead of numerals one to thirteen placed beneath the slots I may use indicia to designate each card in each suit. This would permit the slide to be moved to indicate any card and thus keep a record of the highest card outstanding in any or all of the suits. Obviously, in playing,'the slides may be moved to indicate either the cards that have been played or those which are yet not played. At the upper ends of the slots on the face disc 31 I preferably place some indicia such as Diamond, Club, Heart and Spade, as shown at- 15, 46, 47 and 48. At the rightof the parallel slots just described are two additional slots 49 and 50. These also have positioned and slidably held therein slides 51 and 52 secured in the slots by eyelets 53 and 54. The face of the disc 32 has numerals thereon positioned immediately beneath the slots 49 and 50'to indicate the size of the bid and to indicate the number of honors held in the players hand. I preferably indicate above the slots as at 55 and 56 respectively the legends Bid and Honors. Beneath the four slots 33, 34, 35 and 36 just described I preferably put some legend such as Cards or Tricks played. On the face of the disc 31 and preferablynear the left hand edge is secured a disc '57 rotatably mounted on a face of the front plate. The disc has suitable markings thereon, such as No trump, Diamond, Club, Heart, Spade as indicated at 58, 59, 60, 61 and (52. An arrow or other marking on the face of the disc 31 may indicate the suit which is bid. A suitable indication, such as Ti-limp? may be printed adjacent the arrow.

The rear side or back of the plate 22 may have an elastic 63 to provide means for bolding the holder in the players hand by inserting a finger, preferably the fourth linger of the left hand theretln'iuigh. The operation of the device so far described is as follows:

Cards of the various suits are placed in the pockets as indicated by the proper symbol on the upper face of the partitions. The holder is preferably held in the left hand with the fourth finger inserted through the loop 63 on the back of the holder. By means of the thumb the disc 57 is rotated to bring the proper indicia beneath the arrow to indicate the suit bid. The indicia 54: is positioned to indicate the number of honors held in his hand and the slide 53 indicates the size of the bid. As the playing proceeds the player with his thumb moves the slides 41, l2, 43, or .4 to indicate the number of cards in each of the suits that. have been played, or to indicate the highest card outstanding in any particular suit. As shown in Figure 1 the holder and indicator will reinindthe player that he holds three honors, that spades are trumps, and that the bid is three spades. It will also indicate that two diamonds, four clubs, three hearts and six spades have already been played. With this information in mind the player is enabled more skilfully to play his hand in playing the game.

' In the modification shown in Figure 5, I provide a holder composed of five discs 01' plates 65, 66, 67, 68 and 69. The top plate 69, as before, is a double plate. The discs are secured together along the lower edge 70 and the edge 71 by any suitable means. I provide the outer plate with a slot 72 in which is positioned a slide 7 3 held therein by means of an eyelet 74- similar to the slides andeyelets shown in the form previously described. Onthe front of the under portion of the plate 69 I place a series of numerals running consecutively from one to thirteen. The slide is positionable so that anyone of these num bers may be read through the eyelet. Pivoted adjacent the slot 72 is an arm 7 5 having at its outer end an arcuate portion 76. The left end of the arcuate portion has indicated thereon at 77, 78, 79, 89 and 81 indicia to show" the suit bid such as No trump, Spades, Hearts, Diamonds and Clubs. As the arm is swung on its pivot, showing legends, the suit bid may be moved to a position just below an enlarged opening 82 at the upper end of the slot 72. This will. indicate the suit which is bid, or the trump suit. The opposite end of the areuate portion has numerals thereon to indicate the number of tricks necessary to be taken in order to make a game. As shown the nuinerals 3, l, 4, 5, 5, may be moved to register beneath an opening 83 1n the front plate.

The numerals just mentioned are so posiits indicated, hearts are trumps. Since in a game of bridge 30 points make game, and since the value of each trick in hearts is eight, it is necessary to take four tricks for game, which would give a total of thirty-two points. IV hen the heart is beneath the opening 82 the numeral four will register with the opening 83. As shown, if the pivoted member is moved to bring No trumps beneath the perforation 82, the numeral three would register with the opening 83, since three no tgump tricks would equal. a total of thirty points, a single no trump trick being ten points. An arcuate slot 84 in the face of the disc receives an eyelet 85 secured to the meniber75 by means of which this member is moved across the disc to indicate the trump suit as just described. The slide 7 3 is movable vertically to indicate at any point in the game the number of trump cards that have been played. I

Pivoted on the under side of the top plate asindicated at 86 is a disc 87 having numerals thereon to indicate the size of the bid. This disc has teeth as shown on its periphery at 88, by means of which it may be rotated to bring any one of the numbers in register with a perforation 89 on the face of. the disc. I place adjacent this perforation some legend such'as Bid to indicate the function of this element, namely, to indicate the size of the bid. I have shown numbers in excess of seven,

the maximum bid in bridge, to adapt the device for other card games, for example, in playing live hundred the bidder would want to bid more than seven. Obviously, any number of numerals might be placed on the disc.

Positioned beneath the face of the upper plate 31 is another disc 90 pivoted at 91 and rotatable to bring any one of a seriesof numbers indicated at 92 in register with an opening 93 in the face of the upper The disc 90 is rotatable by means of an eyelet or pin 93 movable around an arcuate slot 95 in the face of the upper plate. Adjacent the opening 93 is preferablyv put some designating mark such as Honorslto indicate to the player the purpose of this disc. On the rear plate 65 I position an elastic or similar holding band 96, through which the fourth finger of the hand may be inserted to hold the holder and indicator. I provide the back of this holder with a supporting leg 97 hingeo at 98 by means of which the holder may be set'upon the table'instead of being held in the players hand. i

The operation of this form of the holder and indicator is similar to that described with respect to the previous form. The holder held' in the .zleft hand with the fourth linger inserted in the loop 96 and with the thumb the eyelet 85 is moved to position the proper indicia beneath theopeningbi to indicate the suitthat is bid. The member 86 :is positioned to indicate the size of the. bid and the disc 00 is rotated to bring the ln'opei' numeral beneath the opening-93 to indicate the number of honors held in the hand. Asthe playing ;proceeds, the player moves the slide 7-1- with the thumb of the left hand to position the 0 yelet above the numeral beneath the slot 72 to indicate how many trump cards have been played. For-example, as shown in Figure 5 the indicator would inform the player that hearts were trumps, that four tricks are necessary for game, that two hearts were bid. and that the holder has three honors, all of which information enables the player to play his hand with a greater degree of skill than would be possible without this information before him.

The form shown in Figure 7 is composed of discs or plates secured together, similar to those previously described, to provide pockets for cards. The upper plate is provided with a slot 99 in which is movably secured a slide member .100. The slide is secured in the slot by eyelets 101 and 102. This slide member has on one side as at 103, 104. 105, 106 and 107, markings to indicate the suit which is bid. On the opposite side are numbers to indicate the value of each trick in these suits, for example, no trumps is ten, spades nine. hearts eight, diamonds seven and clubs six. The face of the front disc has openings at 108 and 109, through which the trump sign and the value of the suit may be read. This device enables the played to note at a glance the value of each trick of each suit. He may then multiply the value of each trick by the total number of tricks taken and thereby quickly ascertain the score. As shown in this figure for example, the counting device indicates that each trick in clubs has a value of six.

Figures 8, 9 and 10 show various forms of holders without any means thereon to indicate the progress of the game. In Figure 8 the holder consists of front and rear plates 110, secured together by any securing means such as clips 111 or any other securing means. Between the front and rear plates I provide a 1 ]urality of compartments formed between partitions 112. I preferably make these partitions narrow near the bottom and overlapping so as not to make the holder too thick. Between each of the compartments one card is positioned. I provide 1.3 compartn'ients so as to accommodate each of the cards in a hand of bridge. If desirable the partitions may be of the two colors, red and black alternately, so as not to confuse the bidder any more than necessary. In Figure 9 I show still another form of holder, formed by two plates secured at the edges at 113 and 114' by any suitable securing means, here shown as clips passing through the edge and clinched on the opposite side. In this form of holder I provide no partitions between the ants, but preferably place a legend on the front plate to indicate the position of the various suits as shown at 1,15, 1.16, 117, and 118. This legend of course may be dispensed with if desired. Since it is desirable that the cards be not arranged in the same suits all the time it would not be necessary to have the legend on the plate as indicated.

Figure 10 shows still another form of holder of somewhat diil'erent shape, comprising discs secured along the left edge and at the bottom. This holder comprises a plurality of plates 119, 120, 121, 122 and 123, fOlll'llllg pockets therebetween in which the cards may be placed.

For making the plates I use any suitable material such as paper, paste board, celluloid, or metal, especially such light metal as aluminum. The plate may be secured at any convenient edge and, in any suitable way. Also I may vary the indicia on the face of the cards to adapt them to other games than bridge.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes may be made in my device without departing from the spirit of the invention, and I, therefore, do not limit myself to what is shown in the drawings and described in the specification, but only as set forth in the appended claims.

Having thus fully described my said invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A card holder and indicator comprising a plurality of plates secured together along one or more edges, means upon the face of one of the plates movable to indicate any one of several suits of cards, a plurality of par allel slits in the face plate, appropriate markings beneath said slits and adapted to appear therethrough, a slide movable to reveal any one of desired markings, and manually operable means positionable to indicate certain data pertinent to a game of cards, substantially as set forth.

2. A card holder and counter for bridge games comprising a plurality of plates cut along one side to conform to the palm of the hand and secured along one or more edges to provide pockets for the reception. of cards, means on the face of the card adjacent the position assumed by the thumb when the cards are held and movable to indicate the suit bid and the number of tricks necessary to be taken in that suit for game, means within reach of the thumb when so held movable by the thumb to indicate the amount of the bid, the honors held and the whole number of cards played, substantially as set forth.

3. A card holder and counter for bridge games comprising a plurality of plates secured along one or more edges to provide pockets for the reception of cards, one of the outer plates having means movable to indicate data pertinent to the game of bridge comprising pivoted members having pins movable in arcuate slots and having suitable legends positioned beneath perforations in the plate the said members being rotatable by means of the said pins to bring the legends below the per-iterations to indicate the status of the game, substantially as set forth.

l. A card holder and counter for bridge games comprising a plurality of plates secured along one or more edges to provide pockets for the reception of cards, one of the outer plates having means movable to indicate data pertinent to the game of bridge comprising pivoted members having pins OSCAR ANDREW YOUNGREN. 

